Sparkling
by Sherlocked95
Summary: Follow up to 'Portraits' and previous. Prompt fill for icouldbereadingfanfic on tumblr who asked for Merlin attending Arthur's office Christmas party. Merlin's worried that Arthur's colleagues won't approve of him. Arthur knows better.


"Do I have paint on my face? I think I have paint on my face. I have paint on my face, haven't I?"

Merlin only rambles like this when he's nervous and Arthur can't help but look at him, surprised. He hadn't realised that Merlin's actually _anxious_ about being his plus one to the office Christmas party. He knows his partner well enough to know that it's because he's worried Arthur's friends and co-workers won't approve of him.

Arthur knows they will. Merlin's one of those people you can't help but like. People are drawn to him and his bright smile and warm friendliness and he makes friends _everywhere_. So he knows that his friends will adore Merlin. He also knows that they'll spend the whole evening telling him embarrassing stories about Arthur, which he's not looking forward to. He has a lot of humiliating tales behind him. Like the time in university when he woke up in the library in his boxers after sleepwalking across campus.

The poor librarian had been scarred for life.

"You don't have paint on your face," Arthur assures him. "You look great."

Merlin's in neat jeans, a black long sleeved T-shirt, a red waistcoat and his black boots, with his pea coat and scarf on top. He looks effortlessly gorgeous in his own cute, quirky way. Still, Merlin fiddles with his scarf, clearly uncertain.

"I'm not too underdressed?"

"Merlin, we all wear suits on a daily basis. We take the Christmas party as an excuse to dress down. It's casual dress."

Merlin eyes him. "I hardly think a silk shirt qualifies as _casual_."

Arthur laughs and shakes his head. "You look fine, trust me. Gorgeous. Handsome. Far too sexy to be let out in public. Is that enough to stroke your ego?" he teases.

"Mm, I don't know. You might want to continue along the lines of _sexy _for a while." Merlin's grin is wry, but his tone is serious when he says, "They'll like me, right?"

"They'll love you," Arthur promises. "And if for some impossible reason they don't, _I _love you, so I shouldn't worry if I was you."

Merlin relaxes and smiles softly. "I love you too, you know."

Arthur grins as the taxi pulls up outside the building. The Christmas party tends to be held at the local function rooms; he holds the door open for Merlin and presses a hand to the small of his back as they head inside. They take the elevator up to the right floor and step out into a large, sophisticated room packed with people. There's a mix of casual and dressed up; men in jeans to men in black tie and women in casual trousers to women in dresses and heels. Merlin visibly relaxes when he notices this.

Still, Arthur can't help but notice his partner is still nervous, so he slides his arm around his waist and leans in to murmur in his ear, "They'll love you."

Merlin turns his head slightly to meet his gaze, offering a small smile of acknowledgement. Then they both step into the party. Arthur decides to dance with Merlin for a bit so he's a little more at ease before introducing him to people, but Lance and his wife Gwen cut them off.

"Arthur," Lance greets with a grin. "Nice to see you, bud. I take it this is Merlin?"

Merlin offers a friendly smile and holds out his hand. He shakes Lance's hand and kisses Gwen's cheek in greeting. "Pleasure to meet you both."

Gwen's answering smile is warm and she starts talking to Merlin about his art. Both Lance and Gwen seem enraptured by his response and Arthur can't help but grin; he has no idea what Merlin was so nervous about. Of course both Gwen and Lance are immediately taken with Merlin. He has the kind of sparkling, warm personality that draws people in.

They chat to Lance and Gwen for a while before Arthur introduces Merlin to Leon. His best friend tries to keep up the protective best friend act for all of ten seconds before he's roaring with laughter at one of Merlin's terrible jokes and they start swapping cheesy Christmas puns. Arthur groans after the fifth and leans in to kiss Merlin's cheek before leaving them to make his way to the table of food and drinks. He ignores the spread of posh food – he and Merlin ate before they left the cottage – and instead plucks two glasses of merlot from the spread.

When he turns, Leon and Merlin have been joined by Gwaine, Alice, Percy, Elena, Viv, Elyan and his boss, Sophia. They're in a circle around him, listening attentively as he talks animatedly, his lean hands shaping things in the air to punctuate whatever he's saying and then he throws back his head and laughs his warm, full bodied laugh that crinkles his eyes and shows off the pale column of his neck. The group join in, laughing and nodding, and Vic reaches out to touch Merlin's elbow affectionately.

Arthur shakes his head with a fond smile. And to think Merlin was worried that they wouldn't like him. It's obvious they already adore him. He deposits the glasses of wine again and heads over to save Merlin (and to interrupt the embarrassing story he's certain Gwaine is telling his partner).

"Hmm," he says, slipping an arm around Merlin's waist and making him jump. "Ignore anything Gwaine says. It's all lies and slander."

"And if he was telling me what a great guy you are?" Merlin chuckles.

"Then I'd ask who he is and what he's done with the real Gwaine."

"Bastard," Gwaine shakes his head at his friend with a wry grin.

"I take it everyone approves, then?" Arthur asks loudly, laughing when Merlin ducks his head with a blush.

The response is enthusiastic and Merlin flushes even more but he's smiling in obvious relief.

"See? No need to be worried," he murmurs in Merlin's ear. "Now come dance."

Merlin tosses a goodbye over his shoulder to the group as Arthur leads him away to dance to cheesy Christmas music. Arthur slips one arm around Merlin's narrow waist and presses his other hand to the middle of his back; Merlin's arms slide around his shoulders as they sway, noses just barely touching.

"Your friends are great," Merlin tells him.

"Hmm. Just wait."

"Worried I'll steal your friends?" Merlin teases.

"Worried that _they'll_ steal your time," Arthur grumbles playfully, rubbing their noses together. "Time that _could_ be spent in my company. Or bed. Either works."

"Don't worry, you're still my favourite," Merlin promises with a chuckle. "I'm pretty lucky, you know?"

Arthur pulls him closer and slots their mouths together. He can't help but think Merlin's got that the wrong way round; with Merlin on his arm, Arthur's the luckiest guy in the room.

* * *

**I'm currently accepting prompts for this 'verse or anything else you'd like to see, so if you have one, feel free to leave a prompt in my askbox on tumblr.**

**Tumblr: dontbeobviousmoriarty**


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